Chapter 43

Saturday morning, Luke let Shelby watch her cartoons before coming downstairs and pitch in for a bit. Her cartoon block usually ended right around the time the breakfast rush ended, so it would be the perfect time for the kid before the place got busy with the lunch rush.

While Luke was ringing up a customer's order, he heard the door open, bringing in Rachel. She tried to greet him, welcoming him back, but he couldn't help sound distant towards her. Instead, Luke finished with the customer, giving him his change, and told the guy to have a nice day. Even when the customer left, Luke didn't say much to the mother of his child as he made his rounds, topping off refills to those who wanted it.

Finally, she called him out on it, asking why he was giving her the cold shoulder.

Facing Rachel, he told her, "Look, I got work to do." Luke pointed upstairs using the coffee pot, "Shelby is upstairs. Knock yourself out." A family of four walked in at that moment. Thankful for an excuse to walk away, Luke headed over to tend to them, welcoming the family with a cheerful disposition, and offered them a table. Since there were kids, he went and fetched two kids' menus, along with a packet of crayons. Shelby had talked her dad into the coloring menus after suggesting a year ago.

Guessing Rachel must have gone upstairs, Luke took the family's drink order, giving them a few moments to decide what to order while he went to grab them, their drinks. Once they ordered and Luke gave the order to Caesar to prepare, that was when Rachel returned, looking heartbroken. She informed him Shelby was upset with her.

"Well, I will call you when Shelby is ready to speak to you again," he told her calmly.

A sigh escaped before Rachel started to leave. She stopped to at least order a coffee to go. While pouring her some coffee, Rachel tried to make small talk.

"So, are you going to Sookie and Jackson's wedding in a couple weeks?"

"Can't. You?" he asked, grabbing a lid from underneath the counter.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah," she nodded, looking around at the floor. Rachel looked up to add, "Sookie hired me to do the photography. My first wedding since opening my studio."

"Good." Once making sure the lid was on, Luke passed the paper cup to her. "Have a nice day," he told her as if Rachel was just another customer.

"Thanks. You too." Without another word, Rachel left. So Shelby was upset with her mom. He thought she might be.

Shelby went back to school on Monday, but her heart still wasn't into it. Ethan and Alan assured Luke they were trying to help her feel better while Toby questioned why she was sad all the time and didn't see it as a big deal and wanted to just play. When neither of the kids would play, Toby ended up walking away, thus ending the friendship.

"Well, then Toby wasn't a good friend in the first place if he just walked away," Luke pointed out to her on the way home. "This shows Ethan and Alan really are your friends if they're willing to be by your side even when you don't feel like playing."

She nodded at nothing as she muttered, "Yeah."

The boys even came over the following Saturday and helped Shelby put together an entire city with everything she had. With the added space, the kids had more room to work with. They built houses and buildings out of Legos and used the wooden train tracks as streets, keeping them busy all afternoon.

Luke eventually came up, checking to see how they were doing. "You doing alright up here?"

"Yeah," all three kids replied, barely glancing up from their work.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna head next door to Doose's to grab a few things. Any of you want to come along or would you rather stay here?" The kids stayed, not wanting to stop production on their project. "I'll only be ten, fifteen minutes, then. If you need anything before I get back, just ask Caesar."

"Okay."

Luke headed next door, grabbing a shopping basket on the way in. As he was shopping, who should Luke run into but Lorelai. Even being back from the camping trip, the two still hadn't spoken since the fight. Things were awkward between them, as Luke looked everywhere but at her. Being in such a small community, it was inevitable they would run into each other, eventually.

Lorelai asked how Shelby and the diner were doing. Luke gave her even shorter answers than he gave Rachel. With Rachel, it was pure anger and nothing else. With Lorelai, it was a whole mix of emotions, and anyone walking by who knew him couldn't help see Shelby in his actions. Just as Lorelai was about to ask if they could talk about what happened between them, Luke stated he needed to get back to the kids he had left alone and walked away, paying first.

When Luke returned, he checked on the kids, letting them know he was back.

Coming over to see what they built so far, Luke placed his hands on his sides. "Looks nice, so far," he commented.

"We're not done yet," Alan informed him, stacking some Legos on top of each other. He was working on the downtown part where all the shops, police and fire stations were. Shelby was working on the houses and apartments, while Ethan put together the roads, extending them out further around their city.

"Well then, I guess I will let you keep on working." Once again, he left the kids alone, reminding them he'll be downstairs in case they needed anything. Since the kids were being so good and were having fun, Luke let the boys stay the night. Their mom brought over an overnight bag for them.

When it got around dinner time, Luke had the kids take a break to eat something before going back to their city. Now that they were finished, the kids were coming up with stories they would act out, pushing toy cars or trains around, and using Shelby's Pokemon figurines and other action figures and Little People toys that were handed down to her from her cousins.

Luke let them play for a bit after dinner before setting them up with a movie and let them use the sleeping bags he and Shelby took, camping. Ethan asked their mom to bring his Harry Potter movie and Alan wanted his Stuart Little movie. All three kids made it through both movies, so Luke had to put on Shelby's Pokemon movie. Ethan had been the only one to make it through that one while his brother and Shelby ended up falling asleep.

"Can I watch another one?" he asked Luke, who was putting the tape back in its case.

"No, it's late. That's enough movies for one night," Luke told him and turned off the TV.

The boy looked disappointed. A yawn escaped his mouth, though. "Good night, Mister Luke," he said, turning over and closing his eyes.

"Good night, Ethan." Luke turned off the lights before going to bed.

His alarm woke him the next morning. Luke shut it off and just laid there, staring up at the ceiling. A dozen thoughts ran through his mind. Not speaking to both Lorelai and Rachel, Luke had realized that he was finally on his own. It was just him and Shelby at the moment. Only Rory still came by the diner, overhearing Shelby asking her how come Lorelai wasn't coming anymore, and if she was mad at her. Rory wasn't sure what to say to the kid at first. Luke had only filled Shelby in on the accident. He didn't tell her they had a fight, not wanting Shelby mad at Lorelai, too. Rory ended up suggesting if Shelby wanted to come see her mom graduate from her business class, reassuring Shelby she'd ask if it was okay if she came. That helped lift the kid's spirits. In the end, Luke let Shelby know he and Lorelai had a fight and reassured her that Lorelai was still her pal.

Since Sookie and Jackie were going to Lorelai's graduation, Sookie offered to pick Shelby up and bring her back, afterwards. Seeing Lorelai again helped cheer the kid up more and was excited to get to see her graduate like Lorelai had seen Shelby graduate from kindergarten.

It had been almost two weeks since Rachel stopped by and Shelby still hadn't showed a bit of interest in seeing or talking to her. In fact, with both Rachel and Jess not around, Luke was resorted back to getting her to school on time himself, leaving Caesar in charge while he was gone.

One night, when Luke came upstairs for the final time, he lied down beside Shelby, who was reading Captain Underpants, a book series Luke often questioned why it existed and why the kids got a kick out of a school principal running around in his underwear. Don't get him wrong, Luke was glad Shelby could move up to short chapter books. But why Captain Underpants?

"Real page-turner, I see?" he said when Shelby hadn't acknowledged his presence. She was sitting slouched against her pillow, surrounded by her stuffed animals while holding the library book open on her stomach. Luke looked down at the page she was on, noticing Captain Underpants was fighting a giant toilet with sharp teeth.

The phone rang.

Hoping that was Jess finally calling back, Luke got up to answer it. It was only Rachel. "Hold on." Luke looked over at where Shelby was still reading. "Shell, it's your mom."

Shelby glanced up to shake her head, no, before turning back to the book.

"Sorry, Rachel. Not yet... Bye." Luke hung up the phone. He let out a breath of air, looking over at Shelby. Finally he moved back to the bed, sitting beside her this time. "You wanna tell me why you haven't been wanting to talk to your mom?"

Shelby remained focused on her book, not acknowledging her dad.

"Shell?" He saw her gaze drop. Wrapping an arm around her, Luke gave her arm a gentle rub. "Hm? What's going on, kiddo?"

"Mom tinks Jess is a bad person," Shelby finally admitted.

"Your mom doesn't think Jess is a bad person," Luke tried to reassure her.

Shelby wasn't buying it. "Uh-huh, when I told her one time to give him a chance, she said Jess was one of toes troublemaking kids ta' didn' respect a-tor-a-tee figures. I told her to give him a chance, ta' Jess was nice, she jus' didn' know him. She never did even toe she promised to."

"She was trying, though," he pointed out what Rachel had told him. "Your mom told me about you talking to her about giving Jess a chance."

"Bu' Mom ten yelled at you abou' i'. I heard her, Dad. She tinks the acciden' is his faul'." Shelby gave him a heartbreaking look. "You and Rory said it wasn'. I believe you, nah her. I mad a' Mom again."

Luke let out a sigh under his breath. Now he really was starting to wonder if letting Rachel be a part of their daughter's life was a good idea or not. In an entire year, Shelby's been upset with her mom. How many times now? Was it normal for a kid to be upset with a parent this much? He couldn't deny, though, the kid did have a point. Even Lorelai gave Jess more of a chance than Rachel did.

"You're right, kiddo," he told her. Luke didn't like his daughter was upset with her mom again, but she was right. In fact, it was one of the reasons he was upset with her, too, if he was being honest. This time, Luke was going to give Shelby all the time she needed to be mad. Instead of talking about it further, he changed the subject. "So, next week is your last week of school. Registration should start soon for the next sports season. Have you given any thought to what you want to play?"

Shelby looked away as if going into thought.

"Since you don't turn seven until July, you won't be able to start Little League until the fall," he pointed out.

"Bask-eh-ball," she blurted out.

His eyebrows rose. That was the last sport he'd expect her to choose.

"You want to play basketball?"

Shelby nodded. "We played i' in P.E., yes-ter-day and I liked i'. Can I play bask-eh-ball?"

"I don't know basketball as much as I do baseball or hockey, so I may not be able to help out as much."

"Coach Benson taugh' us," she said.

Luke shrugged. "If that's what you want to do, then okay. Basketball it is," he smiled.

"I 'till wan' to play baseball," Shelby added, as if to reassure him.

Catching onto what she was doing, he gave a chuckle. "Shell, it's okay if you want to do something different. Remember, I told you, you might have a different talent than I do."

"I know. I nuh ready to give up baseball, bu' if I can' play ten I wan' to play bask-eh-ball," she explained.

So it was all settled then. Over the summer, Shelby would play basketball. Even better, the following Monday morning when Shelby mentioned it to Rory and Dean, Dean offered to show her a few pointers since he played basketball.

"Because your tall?" Shelby asked.

Dean asked, "What?" confused by her question.

"You said you play bask-eh-ball. Is i' because your really tall?" she repeated.

"Shelby, be nice, " Luke told her, pouring Rory's coffee.

Shelby looked up at him with a serious face. "I am."

The teens both snickered at the kid. Not in a mean way. No one could deny the kid was adorable.

Now understanding what Shelby meant, Dean told her, "I just like playing basketball. It's not because I'm tall." There must have been a tall kid Shelby known once that must have gotten told several times that he or she was going to play basketball one day. Otherwise, Luke had no idea where she could have picked it up from.

When he walked away to fill their order, Luke couldn't help notice Lorelai was pacing outside the diner. She was still doing it when he returned with their orders.

"The sooner you finish eating, Shell, the sooner we can leave for school so I can get back here."

Shelby nodded up at him and started on her eggs and ham.

"You know, I can take her for you if you want," Dean offered.

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that," he told the kid, humble.

"I know, but it's on the way and I can start teaching her the basics of basketball."

"You sure?"

"Mm-hm," Dean nodded. "I've taken my sister to school before, so I know where it is."

"All right then, if you're okay with it." Luke thanked him before walking away. After a while he overheard Rory and Dean talking about how much closer Lorelai had gotten to the building and how Rory was giving her mom some tough love in making her finally come in, as she thought Lorelai and Luke had been in their fight for way too long.

The bell ringing made Luke glance up out of the corner of his eye, to see Lorelai had finally made it inside. With all three kids done eating, they all got up to leave. Shelby gave the woman a congratulatory hug for finally coming inside, but as she was leaving with the teenagers, Luke stopped her with a "hey," grabbing Shelby's attention.

"Forgetting something?" he reminded her, giving her a knowing look.

Shelby smiled and hurried over, which Luke bent over to receive a hug and kiss, giving one right back. He then handed Shelby her lunch he packed and told her to have a great day. Once his little buddy had left for school, Luke returned to looking over past orders, now feeling a little nervous. He tried to keep his mind on other things, but then he heard footsteps headed in his direction and heard Lorelai greet him, which he responded with a weird-sounding hello of his own. Luke continued going through the orders even though he already gone through them all. Couldn't hurt to be extremely thorough.

"Oh, good donut selection, this morning," he heard her comment, "really."

Luke tried to keep focused on the orders in his hand and keep his heartbeat steady. It was in a note she had apologized. So why were things still rocky? They had fought before and they always been able to make up. Why was this any different?

"Good variety," she continued. "Good color, good goodness."

Luke made his way around the counter, still trying to focus on his work.

"Well, so the choices are there. It all comes down to what I'm in the mood for..." He heard her pause as Luke twisted around, looking into the back where Caesar was cooking. He twisted back around and continued going through the orders.

"Sprinkled, or chocolate, or jelly, or glazed, maple, or kicky, or apple, or raised."

Luke at least acknowledged her presence for a few moments.

Lorelai gave a nervous sounding laugh. "Donut rhyme, there."

Luke cleared his throat, not even reading anything at this point.

There was a brief pause before she said, "Never mind," and asked for a chocolate and sprinkle donut, politely.

Luke finally moved, putting down his orders to lift the lid over the donuts to grab the ones Lorelai wanted.

"So, this is how it's gonna be with us now, huh?"

"No idea what you're talking about," he denied not only her statement but himself, as well.

She gave a slight one-shoulder shrug as she said, "You're pulling a Mr. Freeze on me."

"I'm not pulling a Mr. Freeze on you."

"Please, I'm gonna need snow chains just to get out of here."

Luke reached behind him to grab the coffeepot, assuming Lorelai's going to want coffee, and poured her a cup.

"I'm sorry, Luke," Lorelai told him flat out and shook her head. "It was a bad night. I completely freaked out." She glanced away for a second. "I said some things. Did you get my note? I wrote you a note."

"Got your note." he poured her coffee. Luke then returned to looking through the orders again.

"Did you read my note?"

He nodded briefly at her. "Read your note."

"And?"

"It was very well written," he plainly stated.

"That's it?"

"I also enjoyed the Garfield stationary," Luke added. "That's one funny cat. Did you know there's a TV series now?" Shelby was watching the cartoon at some point when he had gone upstairs to check on her.

She just stared at him. "I said I was sorry, Luke."

"Yes, you did," he acknowledged her.

"I said it like a million times."

"You said it four times," he corrected her. "But I understand you're embellishing for dramatic effect."

"Stop," she muttered softly but where Luke could still hear her.

"Stop, what?"

"Stop this robot talk," Lorelai told him, sounding annoyed by this point. "If you're mad, just act like you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you," he told her, calmly.

"You're being really, really unfair. Rory was in the hospital."

Luke stopped her there and asked, "Lorelai, what is it exactly you want me to do?" He shook his head at her as he told her, "I'm not mad. I'm not holding a grudge. I heard your apology. I feel I'm being polite. I listened to your donut bit. I got you your coffee. What would make you happy?" Luke shrugged and leaned on the edge of the counter.

Lorelai remained silent for a moment. She shifted on her feet before she said, "I want Luke back."

"He's standing right here," he pointed out. Luke then grabbed the orders once more to go through them again. He heard Lorelai mutter out loud, "No, he's not," before turning to leave without her coffee or donuts. As the door opened, Luke let out a breath of air through his nose.

Thankfully, Shelby's last week of first grade went well. Mostly, the kids watched movies and played games, and helped clean out the classroom. In fact, it slowly covered the kitchen table with stacks of past assignments, tests, and artwork Luke needed to sort through once he had the time. At least this time, he got Shelby registered for basketball in time for them to start the first week of June.

Dean ended up keeping good on his word, even taking Shelby to the park to help her practice while Rory watched them from the side. She was already enjoying it, coming back to the diner covered in sweat. What was even better, it helped keep her mind off missing her cousin and being mad at her mom. Aside from what was going on between him and Lorelai, everything else seemed to look up.

Then the week was over...

It started with Kirk creeping Luke out when he told him he was tired of being lonely and how Animal Planet wasn't working for him anymore. Letting Caesar know he was going upstairs for a minute, Luke headed up to his apartment, finding Shelby sitting at the top of the stairs, hugging her knees to her.

Noticing she looked depressed about something, he asked her, "What's wrong, kiddo? Did Kirk creep you out too?"

Shelby shook her head, staring at nothing.

Luke kneeled on the stair in front of her, placing a hand on the step between them for balance. "What happened?" he asked, sounding a lot more concerned now. Catching her swallow, Shelby pointed back over at the door to the apartment. "Something happen in there? The cable go out again?"

She shook her head.

"What, kiddo?"

Shelby sucked in her lower lip, squeezing her knees tight to her chest. Finally, he just lifted her onto his side, telling Shelby to show him. Luke sensed her body tense up when they headed inside. What he found was literally a surprise. Standing there was Jess. Now he understood what was bothering Shelby.

Both guys exchanged "hey" before Luke asked, "How did you get in here?" Jess pointed over at the door, stating it was open. "No, I mean, I was in the diner. I would have seen you come up the stairs." He ended up waving it off anyway, swearing to himself how both he and Shelby were so darn quiet, it was scary. Letting out a sigh, shifting Shelby in his arms, who had latched onto his neck, he asked how everything was at home.

"Fine," Jess replied.

"Your mom?"

"Fine."

Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he asked, "You in trouble?"

Jess shook his head towards the floor, "No."

"Then what the hell are you doing here, Jess?" Without waiting for a response, Luke moved a little closer, rubbing Shelby's side when he felt her tiny body tense up some more. "You know, we, uh... We called you six times. Now I didn't expect you to call us back to sit on a phone in bed and watch Sleepless in Seattle together. I just expected you to call us back, say you got home safe, no one mugged you on the bus, say you were okay, say good-bye to your cousin, here...you know what, never mind. Just tell me what it is you want. I got work to do."

Looking at the floor with some hesitation, Jess muttered out loud, "I wanna come back."

Luke wasn't sure if he heard right. "You, what?"

He let out a firm sigh and looked his uncle in the eye. "I want to come back."

"Come back here?" Luke said, making sure.

"Yes."

"Here to Stars Hollow?"

"Yes," Jess told him.

"To live in this apartment with us?"

"I said yes a million times already," he pointed out, somewhat with an attitude.

"You know, you're the one asking for something," Luke pointed right back at him in a firmer tone, "so you don't get to be James Dean this time, okay? Now, one more time," changing his tone to a surprised one, he questioned, "you wanna come back?"

Jess looked up at the ceiling as if to think on it briefly before he replied, "Yes."

"Why?"

"I just..." the boy shrugged, searching around the floor. Luke couldn't help notice his gaze slightly pause on Shelby for a moment there, quickly looking away. "I just..." he glanced towards the side. "I just want to come back."

Luke cleared his throat as he glanced at the floor himself, running his hand along Shelby's side once more. Returning his attention towards his nephew, he said, "you know what people told me when I said you were coming to stay with me? They told me I was crazy," Luke shrugged. "They told me I was insane. They told me to start writing letters to Jodie Foster, but I ignored them. I was so sure I knew what I was doing, and then you showed up, and you know what happened? You proved them right. I was crazy. And now, after all that has happened, after all the chaos and havoc that you have wreaked, the heartbreak you put my kid through, you're standing there, wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a butt with hands that are flipping me off, telling me you wanna come back?"

Jess glanced over at where his books and music were still, how he left them. Moving around his uncle, he went over to point out Luke hadn't packed up his stuff yet.

"Uh, no, I've been a little busy," Luke replied and pointed over at the kitchen table, using Shelby's school stuff as an excuse. "Case in point."

"So when were you planning on sending it back to me?" he asked.

"What, hey, am I wearing a little brown uniform with U.P.S. stamped to it?" Luke responded with sarcasm.

Jess couldn't help smirk a little, but quickly grew serious again. "So?" he shrugged, looking up at him. "What do you think?"

Luke hesitated for a second before pointing a finger at him. "Things are gonna have to be different, Jess."

Jess nodded, looking towards the floor. He looked up to assure him, "I know."

Luke stared at his nephew, slightly sideways. Without removing his gaze, he asked Shelby for her opinion. "What do you think, Shell? Should we let him come back?" Luke felt her grip tighten and felt something wet on his neck, most likely a tear. He frowned, his gaze turning serious. "You really broke her heart, Jess."

Jess looked away. "I know," was all he got out.

"I don't think you do." Luke ducked his head to look him in the eye. "Your cousin's already been through a lot and had people walk out on her. People she cared a lot for. People who made promises and then broke them."

He saw the boy nod and forced himself to look up. "I know about Bailey."

"Then you know what you put her through by not calling," Luke finished.

Jess searched around the floor. Taking in a hard, deep breath, he looked up and admitted, "I'm sorry, Scout." He paused for a moment. Shelby never lifted her head from her dad's neck, though Luke continued to feel some more tears. "If it helps, I couldn't help wonder about you."

Luke gave her side another comforting rub.

Finally, Shelby lifted her head, wiping her face on her arm, now covered in tears before looking back at her cousin, sharing a look with her dad first.

Sniffing in, she whimpered, "I missed you."

With some more hesitance, he told her, "I missed you, too," which Jess quickly added, "tell anybody I said that and you're dead meat."

A small smile appeared on her face, making Jess smile in return. Wanting down, Luke set Shelby on her feet and switched over to her cousin, wrapping her arms around him. To his surprise, Jess didn't even squirm this time. Instead, he placed a hand to the top of her head. Once she let go and stepped back, Shelby nodded up at her dad, giving him a thumb's up.

"Okay," Luke told Jess.

"Okay?" Jess replied.

"So you're staying then?" he asked him.

Jess barely shrugged as he said, "I'm staying."

Luke nodded, "Okay then. Stay." There was a brief pause until he added, "Remember, I said things will be different."

"Yes, and they will be," he reassured his uncle.